Desparate problems need desparate actions

I had a problem with my bike, i first notices something was wrong in the summer, and it's been getting worse for all the time. I finally decided it's time to take action. I have allen-keys, spanners and some other tools at home, but that's not what i needed. However, the local fire station is an array of tools including what i need. And after a couple of times just trying to fix it, i realized that i need a new spare part. Said and done, one day i ran my bike down to the station, took the part that needed to be replaced off, then made a run up to the bikestore (1,5 km) with the part, showed it to the guy in the store and bought a similar one, and ran back down, did the replacement (it took a lot of patience and hard work to replace it). But then it was all nice! I thought.

The same friday evening, I was going back home from outreach when I felt something wasn't quite right. It appeared just like before, I thought "Oh no, it broke already" And I was getting ready to either storm into the bikestore and accuse the guy of selling worthless spareparts on monday morning or just buy a whole new bike.

I did however stop to investigate, it turned out a vital bolt was quickly coming loose, I apparently did not tighten it enough while preforming the repairs. It was off the firestation again. After a few attempts to do some makeshift repairs without tools just to be able to ride there, I realized that just have to walk with it, it was close to 2 km of a walk. And snow was falling down. Once at the firestation I noticed that the bolt was gone! It was friday evening, my local bikeshop was closed and would be so untill

monday morning. I didn't know where I could get a new bold from. I left my bike and my helmet there and grabbed my maglite to look it the bold would be around. I decided to follow my path a little bit, nothing around. So I decided to go untill the traffic lights, I looked very carefully, small rocks and leaves were turned to make sure they where not bolts. At the traffic lights, I decided to trace my path just a little longer... and a little longer. After some point, I just decided to go all the way. The chance of finding it was slim, but without searching, the chances where astronomical. It's not like I had any more important things to do right then. The layer of snow covering the ground as well as possible bolts was getting thicker all the time but I kept going. The last point where I knew the bolt was still in place was as far as I was going to go. And guess what, it was found just after the point where I had decided to start walking. I picked it up, walked back and fixed it. Stubborn often wins :)

While this picture is of terrible quality, it shows the snow, the biketrails and footsteps. I walked some 6 km back and fourth there.